Farplane Winds
by Lady Nightspike
Summary: She had traveled as a pilgrim might, on the way to worship at some mighty temple, but in the end all she had come to see was a man. A mighty man, yes, but nonetheless nothing divine. Nothing sacred. Except to her. Aurikku to start, later...other...


This is new, a little teaser/prologue. Should I continue? Or should I leave it be? The style is normal, for me- which is not normal in general, so you have been warned. I really don't think there's anything to flame, but I would love a review. Auron. Rikku. If you hate them, do not read. This assumes they fell in love somewhere along the way to Zanarkand.

**Farplane Winds**

She wrung her hands nervously, waiting for her courage to return. Guadosalam, three months after...after he had said his duty was finished. _I'm an Al Bhed, _she thought nervously. _I can walk away, and no one will think worse of me for it. _They had traveled together; they had both guarded Yuna on her quest to save the world and yet, that was nothing compared to what else had been...

An impossible love...

Impossible, he'd always said, because they would have to part someday, and unlike others, that _day _was set in stone. There would be no lingering for an Unsent guardian, no matter how many people he had saved. In the end, Auron had adhered to the teachings of Yevon- though they had proved so much of it false!- and dissolved into those beautiful, transient pyreflies...

And even though she, Rikku, had understood _why, _it had been even more Impossible to surrender him. So that was why an Al Bhed girl who had never believed a whit of Yevon's teachings had come here, to the place where the veil between Farplane and reality parted enough so that she could at least gaze upon the man who had been- for far too short a time- her lover. Always her love, and always inside her heart, but never again to be whole. And even if she didn't quite believe, there was a foolish hope in her heart, one she could not disregard.

She had traveled as a pilgrim might, on the way to worship at some mighty temple, but in the end, all she had come to see was a man. A mighty man, yes, with a hard, serious shell and a sensitive inner core that she had revealed only by inches, but nonetheless nothing divine. Nothing sacred. Except to her.

Now here she stood, and so slowly her lips parted to utter these sounds, "I might as well go in." _It would be useless to travel this far and turn away, right? So why aren't you moving? _As if by compulsion, her feet moved: left, right. Left, right. "There's nothing to be afraid of."

_What if I don't see him? What if he's not there? Would it mean he was alive? Or just that he had never been there at all? Or maybe..._she bit her lip. _You're jumping from If to If, _she rebuked herself. _Focus. It's like when Lulu taught you your first magic spell and all you could think about was setting Maester Seymour's robes on fire, and then Maester Mika's, and then Wakka's hair type thing, and then..._the reminder still conjured a smile.

She had flatly refused to learn the thunder spell. And of course, the thought of _thunder _made her wish for Auron, made her remember the Thunder Plains and his somewhat gruff behavior, meant not to be cruel but rather to spur her on, and her victory- "she's worse than the storm"- which somehow had felt more like defeat. But that brought her back to why she was standing here, had stopped, in fact, and why she should part the veil.

Shimmery. It slid aside like silk, but it was intangible as dust- visible, yes, if looked for hard enough, but nevertheless elusive. Suddenly- _but I don't feel any different. _She surveyed the 'mystical' Farplane. She peered all around, looking for a sign, or a vision, or _something_! _Stone, _she thought, disappointed, _it's just stone. _It looked like a reflection of her heart, after Auron was gone- frozen in place, unfeeling, uncaring, and almost certainly meant to erode and disappear. _Is this what other people come to see? It can't be! Is it because I don't truly believe? Is it because I am flawed? _She sank to her knees and cried, at last, there in the ludicrous shadows of something sacred to another's beliefs.

There was a hand on her shoulder. And up and behind her, finally, was something sacred to her alone. "But you're..."

"Impossible, yes," he said gravely. "Rikku, beloved, I am allowed to give you a message, carried on the winds of the Farplane: I love you. And although I will always be in your heart, _there will be another, _if you but let him be."

"But wait!" she cried, as he dissolved once more. However, this time he had left her with something besides tears and heartache: hope...


End file.
